The reduction in the number of employees in public administration requires more decisive and comprehensive reforms and political parties that will not be guided solely by the prospects of electoral success, the Institute for Alternatives (IA) announced.
The IA stated that, at the conference "Optimal Public Administration: Between Promises and Electoral Spoils", it was assessed that personnel planning is not regular and comprehensive, even though as many as 40 percent of the final benchmarks within the framework of negotiations with the European Union (EU) relate to strengthening administrative capacities.
The conference "Optimal Public Administration: Between Promises and Electoral Spoils" was held today in the capital, organized by IA and supported by the British Embassy in Podgorica.
Director General of the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) Marija Hajduković said that in the current Public Administration Reform Strategy there is no explicit goal of reducing the number of employees, but rather an indicator that refers to the share of the number of employees in relation to the total number of employees.
"At the EU level, the number of employees is 17-18 percent, and in our country last year it was 21,7 percent," said Hajduković.
She reminded that an interactive application has been launched, through which data on the number of employees is published quarterly, all institutions are listed by sector, and it is possible to monitor where there is an increase at both the central and local levels.
The IA stated in a statement that the introductory part of the conference discussed temporary contracts as, as they said, a mechanism used as a parallel employment system with abuses that were also recognized by the State Audit Institution.
Hajduković said that one of the conclusions of the Strategy itself is the establishment of records of service contracts.
"However, in the meantime, the Commission for Service Contracts has been formed, which has gone a step further and envisages their reduction," the statement said.
Marko Sošić from IA said that it is positive that the employee database exists, although there is no data on companies at the central and local levels, or on temporary contracts.
He reminded that in March this year there were one thousand more employees at the central level compared to the same month last year.
"In the second part of the conference, within the panel discussion "Partitocracy and Optimization: Partial Solutions Behind Big Words", the focus was on other aspects of public administration optimization," the statement said.
The IA said that this is a much more complex process than simply reducing the number of employees and that it must also respond to the needs of missing administrative capacities, improving recruitment procedures, scheduling, evaluation, promotion, but also combating political clientelism.
State Secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration, Naim Đokaj, said that since 2022, the department has been trying to achieve professionalization and depoliticization through legal changes.
He recalled some initiatives, such as the recently presented concept on local elections and the law on the Government, which is awaiting another opinion from the Venice Commission.
"Regarding the amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which are in the parliamentary procedure, he pointed out that the most criticized element is the reduction of employment criteria, which is part of the subsequent conclusions adopted by the Government," the statement said.
Đokaj believes that the two-term limit on acting officers and the disciplinary commission are good elements in the proposed amendments, believing that they reduce the influence of political parties.
The statement states that State Secretary at the Ministry of European Affairs Biljana Papović addressed the dilemma of how to reconcile the request for additional administrative capacities with the needs of reducing cumbersome bureaucracy, especially in the context of European integration.
She emphasized that as much as 40 percent of the final benchmarks within the negotiations with the EU relate to strengthening administrative capacities.
The IA said that in terms of missing capacities, chapters 23 and 24 are the most critical, but also 12, 21, 28, as well as 27, which is probably the most expensive chapter.
"Administrative capacity is particularly lacking for projects in transport, energy and telecommunications," the statement said.
Papović said that inspection supervision is also a critical area.
She added that lawyers who know EU law, IT and financial experts, as well as people involved in customs administration, are also needed.
Milena Muk from IA pointed out that these missing administrative capacities are not subject to regular personnel planning.
She stated that only four institutions had adopted personnel plans by the end of March, while as many as 92 percent of state administration bodies and government services had failed to do so.
"Papović and Đokaj highlighted the institute of permanent assignment to another state body, envisaged by amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and Employees, as a good solution to encourage horizontal mobility of employees, i.e. their relocation to areas where there is a deficit," the statement said.
Europe Now Movement MP Vasilije Čarapić pointed out that the Law on Civil Servants and Employees and the Civil Service System should protect institutions.
"The reality is different - this law protects the employment of civil servants and employees, not the institution," Čarapić stated.
He added that the story about the overcrowding of the administration is paradoxical, because there is a shortage of staff for positions where standards exist, such as in education and healthcare.
"Proliferation is where there are no standards," said Čarapić.
Social Democrat MP Boris Mugoša believes that practices in this area were bad even before the political changes of 2020.
"Until 2020, there were better laws, but we had poor implementation. Now both the laws and implementation are bad," Mugoša assessed.
He stated that the first move of the new parliamentary majority after the 2020 changes was to reduce employment criteria.
IA said that at the end of the event, Muk shared key findings from the NGO's research in this area, including service contracts, employee evaluations, and acting conditions.
She emphasized that the problems in this area are numerous.
"For example, for almost half of the service contracts concluded for the needs of the Real Estate Administration, there is no job description for which the persons were hired," Muk stated.
As she said, if we were to look at the process of evaluating civil servants, the average in the administration would be above average, because over 90 percent of evaluated civil servants last year received the rating "outstanding".
It is stated that, on the other hand, the appraisal of managers has not taken root and that during the previous year, the director of the administrative body was not appraised at all.
"Finally, she pointed out the large discrepancy between the large number of decisions on determining the acting state of affairs, over 300 of them from the beginning of the mandate of the Government of Milojko Spajić until the end of February this year," the statement said.
The IA said that, throughout the past year, 41 people were appointed to positions of heads of bodies and senior management personnel.
"So, we have a huge difference compared to the use of the public competition system, such as somewhat predictable and transparent recruitment procedures for management positions, and acting positions that have become the rule instead of the exception," Muk emphasized.
She recalled the IA's recommendation to avoid this institute entirely by advertising leadership positions before the end of the term.
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